Rocket gun



March 10, 1959 G. A. LYON 2,876,678

' ROCKET GUN' I Filed April 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 30 30 32 3.3 i 60 Q0 47 43 47 31 i 43 24 MarchIO, 1959 G. A; LYON 2, 7

ROCKET GUN Filed April 5,1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 k F M a Q M m m i; 1 7 M;1 g-m 1 s n 1 w 1 m m 1 i N 9 s a x l I fi a) q i Q i I I s O')\ l 1 m i1 i i a L '1 I 1:12.: a 2* 3 v E i ER 1 i 1 m o l g 1 I w ,I 8 N m E I lA m P F v 1 I United States Patent ROCKET-'JGUN George .AlbertLyonDetroit, Mich.

Application April-5,- 1952, SerialNo. 180;777

'Claims. -(Cl.-,891.7)

:The :presentt'inventionrnelatesvto:improvements in guns or missilelaunchers, and more particularly concerns a gon -emt'struction 'iwhich:is :especially :suitable for firingand directingnrockefitype:xmissiles.t

.riAniimportant objectsofithe:present!invention is to-pro- :Yidenan:improved gun:ortmissile'alaunher of reasonably light \weight andtzcompact aarrangement and .:adapted for "rapidrfirezoperation.

. .FA'notherhobject rof :the :invention is .to "provide san im-;provedzr-ap'id fire,:rotary magazinei-type of gunffor ordnance:purposes.

sAifurther :obiectof :the invention t'iS :to :provide in a .rapidifireguncore missile launcher Tflllill'IlPIOVd magazine construction. 7/

vStill :another object of .thejnventionzisi to rprovi'deiin 1agamer/missile launcheraainovel quick loading,z rapid fire magazine rand:indexing: arrangement.

Xehanother-objeet of the ;invention is tosfprovid'e'a novel rocket gun,with :novel rroeket motivated rmagazine andrindexingvstructure.

Accordirgsto the -generalrfeaturesaof themresent invention there a isprovided tin :ia gunnconstruction including-ta snpportingstructureandnuguntbarrel, HOVGLIHEIgZZiIIC and indexing structure including *means:for ssnpporting ta seriessof elongated -missile-carr yingi-cartridgesaor casings in sreciprocal relation and having iindexingmechanism operable by flinterenga gement wvit-h ithe .tmissile carryingcasings t-successive ly :tO index the casings vwith'ithe sgun .barrelandfor indexing a-succeedingmissile=carrying1cas'ingdgpon-firingtofeachzpreeedinglmissile. v

:Another zfeature -.of tthe :invention :istto provide tin 1a ,gun :or.missileslauncher, iwhereiniaggnnibarrel issstationarily :mounted, anovel rotary rmagazine-eand missilemolti'vated ,indexing mechanism :ifOISTQPfbYL-STCP' turning of .thecmagazine to index: successivemissile-carryingupoi tionsi oft the; magazine with s thetbreechtOfrtllefgl'ln :barrl.

..A .further ,feature of :the invention i'lS nto prowide iinta 2,876,678Patented Mar. 10, 1959 As 'shown'on' the drawings:

'A-gunconstruction asmore or less'schematicallyshown I in *Figs. land3'is adapted tobe mounted on"any*preferre'd base such asa guncarriagefor land operationsa vehicle" for "mobile, landor amphibiousoperations-"an'airplane, or-'anaval vessel. While various "features'of'the gun-maybe adapted for-firingof'projectiles'or missiles of'variouskinds, the invention will be especially described inth'e adaptationthereof bestsuited for-firing or'launching rocket-type missiles, andwherein'arapid succession (if-rockets are to be fired. "To this end; theconstruction comprises a supporting bracket-or framework 11 carrying a:gun barrel "12,'a magazine structure 13 and indexing mechanism 1'4.

For minimizing weight consistant with adequate strength in the assembly,the framework ll may bemade from metal =p1ates-or other structurally-accept-able metallic elements represented in the exemplary'illustrationby -a"base plate 15 supporting a forward vertical gun'barrel cradle plate 17 andta 'rearvertical -gun barrel-supporting plate18 'in spaced parallel relationto the cradle-plate fl. "Bymeans ofthe-jal-ates 17 and 18 the gun barrel 124s supported in fixed position'relative to the -'-supporting "frame 11.

According to. the present invention; the magazine' 13 -is of the rotarytype and is 1 supported by the frame 11 in operative rotary positionbehind-the gun barrel breech.

gun construction, a rotary. magazine-.comprisingaa tpairiof a concentriczsupporting-.rings having 2a SCIiCS'Ldf missilesupporting. tubes,iiandameans for rotatably supporting the magazine .for i successiveindexing t of the --'missileacarr ying .tubes withthe;breech'.oia gunbarrel.

Qther objects, ;features --and advantages -.of :the :present inventionwill be ,readily 'Pappare-nt from the rfdllowing detailed:descriptionzof a preferred-embodiment :taken in conjunction Z'With itheaccompanying drawings,:in\-Which:

L Figure 1 is tarmore \orlless schematic ,front elevational viewoft-a,gumconstmctionembodying the: featuresaofethe present invention;

-Figure 2..is ansenlanged fragmentarydetail sectional view,takensubstantially iontthe tline-II=II'.of .Fgl g. 51;

'Figure 3 is an enlarged :vertic-al sectional detail -view takensubstantially on the line III-+III:of Fig.1;

Figure A v is ,a fragmentary -.sectional ,plan view 3 takensiibstantiallyzonstheline I-V--.IV1 of Fig. 3 and IEig'ure ;5 .is anenlarged :fragment-ary -vertiealrisectional detail view takensubstantially ion zthe line V-V:of..*Fig- To this-'eni the frame plate18' Whichsupports thebreech end portion of the gun barrel 12 ispreferablyfifwvidth and height greater 'than the requirements forsupporting the-g1tinfbarrel"and.'as shown may be of generally triangularshape with a gun barrel receivin'g and supporting aperture 159therein,while adjacentltowits opposite sides respective horizontally aligned:and :parallel "coextensive rearwardly textending 'isha'fts i. 20 -aresupported. fl he rear end :portions 10f:thecshaftsiare=supported 'by aframe structure'Zl which rnray bEJEIEII lHIlgUlZIIJPIZiW similar to the.platew1-8: and supportedini-vertical spaced/parallel relation theretoupon the baseiplate 15. :The 'shafts:20scar-ry= adjacent-i to :theirforward :ends r-respectivezgroove i rollers 22, 'an'd' spacedtrearwardlyfrornitlre roliens 22trespectivorolier means :23 providing zarroller:cra'dleifor athe magazine 313. Inna light-weight: but sturfdyconstruction; theimagaz'ine 18 comprises -a pair $.01 substantially 1.similari'spaced' ip arai-lel frontqand rear body, platesr2s4and:25,:the:outer. peripheries of which :are iarranged'i to *Iidecnadlejdxrotanyzrelation inponttheifrontrrollers.zziand thesrearrollers; 23', respectively. v

i- Prefei-iably nthe magazine plates 24 sand '25 are Yringshaped so asto -tprovide YlIl-HBI peripheries 'wliich aare adapted to the engaged:rotatably vby *srespec'tive ifronteand rear grooved rollers-27 eand,28,-:respectively,con;avsupponting ,shafti29'rearriedi by and between:the upperzporti'onsudf theiframe members 18aand '21. Thereby themagazine Z16 is held againstdisplacernentfrom the-rollerscari'iage'.

v he magazine platesszfii andflSaremaintaineii inzspaced relation@rigidly by -.a series 2 of preferably ;unifomily rannularly .spacedmagazinestubes. -30 the front endrportions of *Whichareappropriately-secured itoitheimagazineuplate 24in concentricsalignment with asseries ofteircular ports 31 intthet-front magazine;-plate. The :IGHlzCHdS ofith'e magazine -.tubes :30 are secured in("concentric t-rel'ation --.-to respectiveicircularapertures32:intheirearzmagazinqplate 25. Throug'hthis arrangement, :the magazine'tubesare adapted to receive operatively respectivescasingsnr.cartridges "33slidably therein for successive.fregistration with the breech ofthe gunbarrell2' for firing o'fa missile mounted in theregistere'd cartridgeinto the gunbar'rl. In Fig.' 3 a rocket type'rnissile M is shownschematically within t-he registered-cartridge Z lnclexingof themagazine 1-3 to reg'isterthe successive cartridges-33rcarriedtherby withthe gun barrel is efiectefi by the indexing mechanism 14. To this endthe indexing mechanism 14 is so constructed and arranged that it willoperate by recoil force imparted thereto through rearward thrust of thecartridge 33 from which firing takes place to rotate the magazine by onemagazine chamber increment automatically to bring the next succeedingmagazine chamber into aligned registration with the gun barrel. Hereinthis is accomplished by providing the indexing mechanism with a thrustplate 34 disposed vertically behind the lower portion of the magazine 13and in forwardly spaced relation to the fear frame member 21 andprovided with tubular bearing bosses 35 by which the thrust plate isslidably reciprocably mounted upon the shafts and 29. In a convenientform the thrust plate 34 may be of generally triangular shape asindicated in Fig. 1. Means such as respective compression springs 37disposed about the respective shafts normally bias the thrust plate 34forwardly by bearing at their rear ends against the frame member 21 andat their forward ends against the rear face of the thrust plate aboutthe bearing apertures through the thrust plate.

Carried by the thrust plate 34 is a centering and thrust block 38 havinga forwardly opening taper walled centering pocket 39 centered withrespect to the axis of the bore of the gun barrel 12 and arranged toengage a complementary tapered butt or base end formation 40 on theshell or cartridge 33 in firing position. The center ing and thrustblock 38 may be generaly ring-shaped to afford access therethrough forappropriate firing pin or igniter means (not shown) associated with afiring device 41 that may be carried by or in association with thethrust plate 34.

The central opening in the thrust and centering block 38 may registerwith a primer or fuse boss 42 at the center of the butt end of thecartridge.

One of the functions of the thrust plate 34 is to thrust or drive theengaged cartridge 33 forwardly so that a flared lip flange 43 at themouth of the cartridge will engage about a complementary beveled tailflange 44 de fining the breech opening to the gun barrel bore. Thereby acentered relation of the month end of the cartridge with the gun barrelbreech is effected.

In order to avoid side flash and escape of smoke from around the gunbarrel breech it is preferably provided with a guard plate 45 which maybe formed integrally with the gun barrel or formed as a separateattached piece, as preferred. This guard plate as best seen in Figs. 1,2 and 3 may be generally symmetrically kidney-shaped to extend equallyto opposite sides of the gun barrel breech in such a manner as to extendinto overlapping and closing relation to both of the immediatelyadjacent magazine chambers. Further, the guard plate 45 is disposed inface-to-face sliding engagement with the opposed outer face of the frontmagazine body plate 24, not only at the opposite sides but also aboveand below the gun barrel 12. It will be observed that the gun barreltail flange 44 is disposed in a transverse plane forwardly from andclear of the magazine front plate 24.

As an incident to firing of the missile M from the cartridge 33 disposedin firing position, the cartridge 33 recoils and drives the thrust plate34 rearwardly against the compression springs 37 which thus becomeloaded to rebound instantaneously upon dissipation of the recoil force.To accommodate such recoil of the cartridge 33, each of the magazinechamber tubes 30 is provided at its forward end portion with an enlargeddiameter portion 47 into which the lip flange 43 moves during recoil.

As the thrust plate 34 moves rearwardly during recoil, it draws with ita rack bar 48 attached to its lower end portion and operative to rotatea one way friction clutch pinion 49 in non-clutching direction, that is,counterclockwise as viewed in Figs. 3 and 5. Then, as the rack bar 48thrusts forwardly with the thrust plate 34 during rebound, the clutchpinion 49 is rotated in clockwise direction as viewed in Figs. 3 and 5thereby engaging ball clutch mechanism 50 and turning a drive shaft 51to which is operatively keyed a bevel gear 52. In turn a bevel gear 53meshing with the bevel gear 52 turns a driven shaft 54 to which is keyeda drive gear 55 meshing with gear teeth 57 provided on the outerperiphery of the rear magazine plate 25, thereby turning the magazine byone chamber increment as indicated by the directional arrow in Figure lto bring the next succeeding magazine chamber into registration with thegun barrel bore. It will be understood, of course, that appropriatesupporting brackets carried by the base structure 15 are provided forsupporting the respective shafts 51 and 54 of the gear assemblyrotatably. As shown, for example, a bracket 58 is provided for the shaft51 and a bracket 59 is provided for the shaft 54. In order toaccommodate the peripheral gear teeth 57, the rear roller carriagerollers 23 are preferably toothed to provide idler gears supporting therear panel 25 of the magazine.

It will thus be apparent that in the operation of the gun, as eachmissile is fired, the recoil automatically disengages the cartridgecasing 33 thereof from the breech of the gun barrel, and automaticallyas an incident to the recoil thrust of the cartridge 33 actuates theindexing mechanism 14 to actuate the magazine 13 in the rotary directionindicated by directional arrow in Fig. 1, to index the next succeedingmagazine chamber 30 with the gun barrel breech. The thrust forcedeveloped by the rebound of the springs 37 drives the centering andthrust block 38 against the butt end of the newly indexed cartridge 33and drives the same into forward end engagement with the breech of thegun barrel 12. Thereupon, automatically or under selective control, thenewly indexed and registered missile is fired and the indexing cycle isrepeated. This may be accomplished in rapid fire sequence or byselective firing as desired.

Automatic reloading mechanism (not shown) may be employed to eject theempty cartridges 33 from the magazine chambers and reload the magazinechambers, or the magazine may be manually reloaded as particular servicerequirements may dictate. Since the cartridges 33 are longer than thedepth of the body of the magazine 13, the butt end portions of thecartridges provide ready means for pushing the empty cartridges out ofthe front end of the magazine chamber tubes 30. Then a loaded cartridgecan be quickly inserted in the cleared magazine tube 30. By having buttends 40 of the cartridges 33 tapered, and the front or mouth endportions of the magazine tubes 30 of larger diameter than the cartridgesand by having the inner end portions of the enlarged mouth portions 47of the cartridges tapered inwardly as indicated at 60 case of insertionof the elongated cartridges 33 into the magazine chamber tubes isfacilitated. Overthrowing of the loaded cartridges 33 into the magazinetubes 30 is avoided by the stop presented by the beveled shoulder 60engageable by the lip flange 43 of the cartridge being loaded. Ofcourse, rear end stop means could readily be supplied at the loadingstation to assure limitation upon rearward projection of the cartridgesas loaded to a maximum predetermined extent.

Further ease of loading of cartridges into the magazine chambers isassured by having the edges defining the respective ports 31 in thefront panel 24 of the magazine beveled or round tapered as shown inFigs. 2 and 3 so as to ease the butt end of one of the cartridges 33being inserted thereinto into concentric relation.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be elfectedwithout departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the presentinvention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a gun construction including a barrel, a magazine structure havinga plurality of successive chambers each of which includes a cylindricaltubular portion adapted to be concentrically aligned with the breech ofthe gun barrel and having adjacent to the front end thereof a forwardend portion providing a counterbore like enlarged diameter mouth, areciprocable cartridge for supporting a missile slidably disposed insaid cylindrical tubular portion and having an enlarged front endportion reciprocably received retractably and protractably in saidenlarged mouth of the cylindrical tubular portion, and means for movingthe cartridge toward said breech to protract and engage said enlargedfront end portion of the cartridge in operative firing relation to thebreech.

2. In a gun construction including a barrel, a magazine structure havinga plurality of successive chambers each of which includes a cylindricaltubular portion adapted to be concentrically aligned with the breech ofthe gun barrel and having adjacent to the front end thereof a forwardend portion providing a couterbore like enlarged diameter mouth, areciprocable cartridge for supporting a missile slidably disposed insaid cylindrical tubular portion and having an enlarged front endportion reciprocably received retractably and protractably in saidenlarged mouth of the cylindrical tubular portion, and means for movingthe cartridge toward said breech to protract and engage said enlargedfront end portion of the cartridge in operative firing relation to thebreech, said mouth having at the inner end thereof a stop shoulderopposing the enlarged front end portion of the cartridge to determinethe extreme retracted position of the cartridge.

3. In a missile launcher comprising a supporting structure and a barrelfixedly supported by said structure, a magazine having a tubularcartridge support open front and rear and with the front end thereofregistrable with the breech of the barrel, a cartridge shell forsupporting a missile therein, said cartridge shell being substantiallylonger than said tubular support and being reciprocably slidablydisposed in said tubular support and with the rear end of the shellproviding a butt portion normally extending substantially beyond therear end of the tubular support but the shell being movable forwardly toproject beyond the front end of the tubular support, said shell butt endportion having a central attachment structure for a primer of a missilehoused within the shell, and means including a thrust block structurehaving a complementary recess engageable with the butt end portion ofthe shell to afford a thrust backing and centering means for the firingaspect of the missile launcher and operating to thrust the shell towardthe breech of the barrel and with the front end of the shell projectedbeyond the front end of the tubular support into engagement with saidbreech, said block structure having firing means cooperatively relatedthrough said recess with said central primer attachment structure of theshell.

4. In a gun construction including a barrel, a magazine structure havinga plurality of successive chambers each of which includes a cylindricaltubular portion adapted to be concentrically aligned with the breech ofthe gun barrel and having adjacent to the front end thereof a forwardend portion providing a counterbore-like enlarged diameter mouth, areciprocable cartridge for supporting a missile slidably disposed insaid cylindrical tubular portion and having a taper flared mouth flangereciprocably received retractably and protractably in said enlargedmouth of the cylindrical tubular portion, the breech of the gun barrelhaving an annular groove therein opening rearwardly and defined by ataper flange structure engageable centeringly by said mouth flange ofthe cartridge in the firing aspect of the gun, and means for moving thecartridge in said cylindrical tubular portion toward said breech toprotract said taper flared mouth flange into engagement within saidannular groove and into engagement with said taper flange structure ofthe gun barrel breech.

5. In a gun construction including a barrel, a magazine structure havinga plurality of successive chambers each of which includes a cylindricaltubular portion adapted to be concentrically aligned with the breech ofthe gun barrel and having adjacent to the front end thereof a forwardend portion providing a counterbore-like enlarged diameter mouth, areciprocable cartridge for supporting a missile slidably disposed insaid cylindrical tubular portion and having an enlarged front endportion reciprocably received retractably and protractably in saidenlarged mouth of the cylindrical tubular portion, means for moving thecartridge toward said breech to protract and engage said enlarged frontend portion of the cartridge in operative firing relation to the breech,the magazine structure having a forwardly facing surface through whichthe chambers open, and a guard plate fixedly disposed in generallyplanar alignment with the rear end portion of said gun barrel breech andextending in all directions about the breech and having a portionextending into overlapping and closing relation to the next adjacentmagazine chamber, said plate being in face-toface sliding engagementwith the opposed forwardly facing surface of the magazine structure,said plate coacting with the magazine structure forwardly facing surfaceto avoid side flash and escape of smoke from around the gun barrelbreech.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS509,091 McCullough Nov. 21, 1893 946,351 Haeghen Jan. 11, 1910 1,215,255Davison Feb. 6, 1917 1,342,358 Storle June 1, 1920 2,390,688 BradberryDec. 11, 1945 2,421,752 Jones June 10, 1947 7 2,426,239 Renner Aug. 26,1947 2,450,929 Ashworth et al. Oct. 12, 1948 2,485,715 Eastman Oct. 25,1949 2,503,578 Burney Apr. 11, 1950 2,587,672 Whitson Mar. 4, 19522,717,534 Atherton Sept. 13, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,275 Great Britainof 1914 125,126 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1919 402,680 Italy Mar. 18, 1943632,599 Great Britain Nov. 28, 1949 639,712 Great Britain July 5, 1950

